Beaten by a whisker in the Decathlon at the Melbourne games in 1956, this American athlete won in Rome four years later against the Taiwanese Yang. Yang was the stronger in winning 7 events out of 10, but Johnson was more regular and finally won the gold medal. After becoming one of the pillars of the American Democratic Party, Rafer Johnson was at Robert Kennedy's side when the latter was assassinated in 1968. In 1984 he had the privilege of lighting the Olympic flame at the Los Angeles Games.